I admit, I was prepared not to like these. I imagined they’d be one of those experiences that my partner describes as, “I’m a better person for having tried it, but I won’t be doing that again.” I was wrong.
The idea of preventing puff pastry from puffing was the thing that gave me pause. Why not use a regular flatbread, then? I dutifully rolled the dough out, cut it into six-inch circles, pricked it and gently laid it on a parchment-covered baking sheet, only to sandwich another baking sheet on top of the delicate dough. When they came out of the oven, I was still skeptical – all this work for…crackers?
When it came time to assemble the tart, though, I got a little more excited. I used some radish leaf-almond pesto (my go to pesto recipe this summer, it seems) and some leftover (grated) mozzarella. The tomatoes in my garden aren’t quite ready yet, but the ones at the store were perfectly ripe. I had some leftover bacon, too, so I diced it and added it between the pesto and tomato layers. The basil was fresh from the garden. I hoped the pastry was going to measure up to the rest of the ingredients.
As many of us have said before, trust in Dorie. These were delicious and very worth the unpuffing of some puff pastry. The pastry had a nice snap to it and was a great base for the toppings. In fact, I think I might even be willing to sacrifice some homemade gluten-free puff pastry for this recipe.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Tomato-Cheese Tartlets
One Wet Foot 
Beautiful, love the radish leaf pesto idea! I allowed my puff pastry to puff on the edges, I’m such a softie;-)
Your additional toppings sound great, and I definitely want to try out that radish leaf-almond pesto! What glammed up tartlets you have there 🙂
Teresa, Lovely looking tartlets…so perfect looking! We really enjoyed these…will be making these quite often this summer! Your radish leaf-almond pesto sound wonderful!!
THe flattened puff-pastry threw me for a loop too. But these look beautiful.
I haven’t tried radish leaf pesto yet – although, I did make a batch of kale pesto and another one from collard greens 🙂
Teresa, you certainly added some nice toppings to the Tartlet and the result sounds and looks delicious – the radish-leaf almond pesto sounds intriguing – cooks have started preparing a radish-leaf soup around here and I was thinking about trying out a recipe for that soup, but pesto with those leaves sounds even better! Very nice pictures too!
Have a good weekend!
Your pesto sounds good, and I really would love the recipe for GF puff pastry! Nice tartlets!
Wonderful flavor combinations, Teresa! I’m glad you took a chance on these. We really enjoyed them & will surely make them again.
Enjoy you r weekend!
very interesting idea 🙂
I do think a millisecond in the broiler is just what these need. Good call. For my part I do think that trying to ‘take away the puff’ is perverse. Unnatural even. Puff pastry should puff. It was born that way. I always have it in the freeze so it may get used this way again in an emergency but I think toasted flatbread is better for this.
I don’t know how anyone could be prepared not to like something with “tomato”, “cheese”, and “tartlet” in its name! I was drooling before I even read the description 🙂
Your tarts are quite appetizing looking and, hmmm, radish leaf-almond pesto, wow, that sounds great! Great color on the tarts, too.
It all looks so delicious. The radish leaf pesto sounds so interesting and looks great too.
I’m glad we all decided this was more than a high-classed Ritz cracker. I liked the fun of turning puff pastrty into exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to be. What intriqued me most about your Post was the radish leaf-almond pesto. Is this your own recipe? After I finish this comment, I am going to put Goggle to work. The flavors in this pesto sound interesting.
Mmmm, bacon would have been a natural partner with the other ingredients. Glad you liked these.
Oh how many times have I reminded myself to trust Dorie? Too many to count I’m sure. Happy to hear that these pleasantly surprised you. We loved them too.
One word…delightful!
Carmen
http://bakingismyzen.wordpress.com
we felt the same way about the “crackers”! LOL!!